Unfrickin believable! There

Unfrickin believable! There is nothing this government and its gang won't do. This corrupt bunch should spend time behind bars. Open up the books to the good people of this province and show them the truth of how you have been destroying this province of ours. I dare you.

Through the Looking Glass

While the BC Liberals breach the public trust frequently, this is indeed a new low water mark. The culture of corruption and kickbacks is now so prevalent within government and business that it is now lapping at the shores of the legal community, which abuts the justice system. How soon before all of our institutions will accept that donating to the party in power is de rigeur if you expect to get ahead. This is how a once thriving democracy rots from the inside out, until "everyone" partakes (except the majority fo citizens that is), making reform impossible.

An explosive story that would be front page news day in, day out, if the NDP were in power...but since it's the Campbell Libeals, it will disappear off the face of the mainstream press in a few hours.

Excellent coverage!

HEED MUST RESIGN

HEED MUST RESIGN!

This story is like the Energiser Bunny. It keeps on going.......

This latest episode is just great prime time soap. so Kash Heed didn't know his electoral team were sending out illegal campaign messages.

Now Terrence Robertson admits to a conflict of interest AFTER he has exonerated Heed from unlawful wrongdoings. How terribly, terribly convenient. How terrible, terribly incestuous.

In a community like BC, it is difficult to avoid perceived conflicts of interest because we are all inter-connected in some way. Terrence Robertson should have admitted BEFORE he made his pronouncement, not afterwards. It is a small detail, but is is the difference between being inside the law and outside of it. It is the difference between freedom and jail time in other places.

We need a whole new election in Mr. Heed's riding and one in which all the messages sent out are personally vetted by Mr. Heed and have his stamp of approval, as they do in the USA.

What we actually have in BC is a government that is taking its role model from its leader, who has such good judgement that his blood alcohol was over twice the legal limit that day in Hawaii. I hate to keep carping on about that, but the list of wrongdoings by his government is growing and growing and growing and he still acts drunk.

To quote Bugs Bunny; "What a

To quote Bugs Bunny; "What a maroon".

Recall Kash Heed

Alongside the NO HST Petition, we should be mounting a recall campaign against Kash Heed. If ever a politician deserved to lose his seat, Kash Heed stands above all others. If working on a Recall campaign diverts resources away from the NO HST petition drive, then let's start the process after July 1st.

Kinda late to resign....

after the fact, isn't it Terry? What, are you hoping your decision will stand?

What a bunch of lame brains.

This puts CJ Branch in disrepute

To keep to the real FACTS, Heed did not appoint this lawyer as an SP. CJB did.BUT what the hell was Robertson thinking ?? CJB has no way of determining who donates to whom, but Robertson should have declared himself, immediately.
I am willing to accept that Heed had no knowledge of the minor details of a campaign, easy enough for back room boys to hatch and institute strategies without telling anyone(just to protect the candidate, right?), I'm quite sure NO candidate knows everything about their campaign, that's what managers are for.
What I resent is that this breach of trust has inflicted a deep wound to the Criminal Justice Branch, the one branch of government that has prided itself on being at arm's length from ANY politics. This reeks of the Dosanjh years in the Ministry of the AG.

Blame Gordo!

Hats off to Kash for stepping down, he really did not have a choice, but others have refused to step down before.
The scoundrel is Campbell who somehow managed to re-install Kash while on a trip to Europe, which normally would leave him "unavailable".
Now is the time for Campbell to address the issue about who was assigned to investigate and why anyone would choose a lawyer from a firm that clearly is a supporter of Kash?

This story is getting past merely being comical, this is a genuine scandal!

stver

As it stands in the Fight HST campaign, Vancouver-Fraserview is the riding in Vancouver which by far is the closest to its target. When Fraserview didn't have central signing locations ready we were running out of their sheets in the West Side because people kept driving in with their whole family, etc...

Where the buck stops?

Do we really need a Provincial AG who doesn't know where the buck stops? It's sure Gordon does, but do the rest of us? This really is a no brainer. Heed should not be the AG. He's now damaged goods.

Kash Heed has just resigned...again

What took him so long? And how could he not know who his big donors were? Having been involved with financial reports for campaigns, I know all of the candidates we ever worked with KNOW who their large donations come from.

It should be good on hearing

It should be good on hearing the opinion of a ethics expert on the law on this issue. I see a real conflict as other commentors in this column do, but it seems the Government is completly oblivious to it. Maybe its about time that Her Majesty's Loyal Oppostion starts talking about restricting political donations as is done in other jurisdictions.

Gone again!

Well, he's done the "right" thing and stepped down again. He should not be coming back into cabinet until the charges against his subordinates are fully dealt with. But the Lieberals are sinking to new depths of incompetence, with each new day, so it will be, alas, no surprise if he does.

Update

according to CBC, Heed has now stepped down, again. Let us resolve this democratically, hold a by - election and see if his riding has any confidence in him (if it ever had any in the first placer).

Special prosecutor

Only this Govenment would allow a so-called special prosecutor to be employed by a law firm that was a regular donator to the Liberal Party and also to the Kash Heed campaign over which he was to make a supposedly unbiased decision. As with all things with the present govenrment - MONEY TALKS!

Good Grief

Is there not one day that when I check my news stories for the day that I don't have corruption slapping me up side the head! This never ends not even a pause. We live in a banana republic. Disgusting.

Large Donations?

QUOTE: " I know all of the candidates we ever worked with KNOW who their large donations come from."

Obviously $1,000 is pocket change if you are a BC Liberal.

BDD63

That is only the donation to Heed's election. There is more to the BC Liberals and since the beginning.

By-election Time

Mr Heed may not have been personally tainted by this scandal but his position as MLA certainly has. An appeal must be made to Elections BC calling for a new election to be held in Mr Heeds riding of Vancouver-Fraserview. There's just no other way out, now.

If at First You Don't Suceed

This government's case against Winston Blackmore should have been a salutary lesson for all lawyers. The Court gave an extensive analysis of independent prosecutors and their pivotal role to "avoid the risk, real or perceived, of political interference in a politically sensitive case". The special prosecutor in the Blackmore case should know better.

http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/09/12/2009BCSC1299.htm

[67] Because prosecutorial discretion resides within the domain of the executive branch of government, courts have been reluctant to interfere with the exercise of this discretion, in order to reduce the pressures faced by the Attorney General and Crown counsel, and in recognition of the division of powers between the executive and the judiciary, the rule of law and the relative expertise of the Attorney General in balancing the competing considerations in coming to a decision to prosecute: R. v. Power at p. 123; Krieger at para. 32; British Columbia (Attorney General) v. Davies, 2009 BCCA 337, [2009] B.C.W.L.D. 5812 [Davies]. Absent incompetence, negligence, bad faith, or “flagrant impropriety” (Davies, at para. 32), or “allegations that the Crown acted from improper motives or purposes” (Davies, at para. 37), courts will not interfere with the Crown’s charging decisions: R. v. Port Chevrolet Oldsmobile Ltd., 2009 BCCA 357 at para. 73, 2009 CarswellBC 2132.

[68] In Davies, the court addressed prosecutorial independence, at para. 30:

Prosecutorial independence is a cornerstone of our system of criminal justice. Decisions by the Crown to proceed with or refrain from proceeding with criminal prosecutions have profound effects on persons suspected of crimes, on victims, and on the public in general. Prosecutors have a duty to make such decisions dispassionately, without regard to either public sentiment or political pressures.

[105] I conclude the Attorney General had no jurisdiction to direct the ADAG to appoint Mr. Robertson as a prosecutor, and the ADAG had no jurisdiction to appoint Mr. Robertson as a special prosecutor, to conduct a charge assessment in relation to the same mandate where Mr. Peck had decided not to approve charges but recommended a reference to the Court of Appeal. The appointment of Mr. Robertson as a special prosecutor was contrary to s. 7 of the Act and his decision was therefore unlawful.

[106] I grant orders in the nature of certiorari, quashing the appointment by the ADAG of Mr. Robertson as a special prosecutor under s. 7 of the Crown Counsel Act to conduct a charge assessment in relation to allegations of criminal misconduct involving individuals associated with the community of Bountiful, British Columbia; and orders in the nature of certiorari, quashing the decision of Mr. Robertson as special prosecutor to approve charges against Mr. Blackmore and Mr. Oler under s. 293 of the Criminal Code.

“The Honourable Madam Justice Stromberg-Stein”

everyone is in a bad light

The Deputy Attorney General, David Loukidelis, looks like an idiot; the Assistant Deputy who advised him can be cited for not properly vetting the Special Prosecutor and the Special Prosecutor himself should be prepared to have his own actions investigated by the Law Society of BC.

What a disaster!

Surprise

None of us should really be surprised at all as we watch the special shenanigans involving the oh so special prosecutors in every case that one has been appointed under Campbell. Think BC Rail and all the others.Questionable judge appointments etc, etc. We should find every liberal voter and rub their noses in this. We had the chance and only elected one independent last election so now we have to suffer to November when the unworkable recall legislation has to be made to work. Step up people and take back control. It is our government not theirs.

I do know this

When a lawyer is uncertain of where he stands, and so he goes to his firm or the police to ask whether there is a conflict of interest, there IS a conflict of interest.

Justice must not only be done but must be seen to have been done. That is a principle guiding our legal system.

No wonder the rest of the country

points and laughs and calls us "la la land".

By the time reporters publish the news, it's changed again! Well, you know the battle is lost when people stop being mad at you and start laughing at you.

There's no way Heed will ever be Solicitor General again.

They pay No Heed to public opinion

This government pays no heed to public anger about anything. This scandal is the top of the list for sch-ill games. Imagine having a conflict of interest possibility in an alleged violation of law, regarding the top cop in the Province. Heed also saw nothing wrong with the optics of this which leads me to question his judgement on other issues. The culture of entitlement with this bunch is really too much. Now we can see why they wanted fixed election dates so badly. Beyond this is the HST which is going to engulf this government. The problem will escalate into a recall in several riding's across the Province that could be successful, and I believe this scandal could be the final straw that breaks the back of this governments moral authority to govern

The even bigger picture.

It would be interesting to see some in depth investigation into the motives of this law firm in donating over $50,000 to the Liberal party over the last 10 years. That is a big chunk of change, simply to back up ones political convictions. It definitly raises some flags.

What we need in BC is another election. Right now!

This is enough! I am 60 years old, and an educated professional with years of experience in business and education. I am SO MAD, I want to see blood. I want Gordon Campbell's head on a platter.

This country is supposed to be a democracy. This administration is turning it into a very bad joke. Even the Liberals must be getting angry with Campbell and Hansen ("I'm so hurt we can't spend $65 million telling people about the HST" - that Colin Hansen).

Between Harper proroguing parliament and Campbell's drunk driving, I for one have had enough. This is beyond words. WE NEED AN ELECTION NOW! If BC doesn't get one, I am afraid Mr. Campbell might not live long enough to resign of his own accord.

The one and only light at the end of this tunnel is that Kash Heed resigned of his own accord, twice. This farce is not his doing. Terrence Robertson should be hung, drawn and quartered, amnd I mean that quite literally. He is an a$$hole who has made a complete mockery of the political process. Heads must roll.

Final nail in the coffin?

The special prosecutor already knew it was a conflict of interest in that he asked the RCMP if it was. That was merely a cover your ass move. Then he must have mulled over the damage to the liberals and pulled the plug.

As usual the RCMP are either quick on the trigger or completely ineffectual. There seems to be no middle ground with this tattered organization.

But hey!!

the canucks are in the play-offs, that`s all most of BCs electorate have been trained to care about.and besides in an oligarchy this is how your betters are supposed to behave.

Greece Provides BC a Well Learned Lesson

The people should revolt in the streets with violent protests and general strikes akin to those in Greece today.

British Columbians should stand shoulder to shoulder with their Greek brothers and sisters and learn from them and act like them.

Only a violent overthrow of the current BC fascist regime will permit a socialist society for all of BC.

And then BC can have their own version of the Nuremburg trials of the corrupt provincial politicians before we send them to the gallows.

Viva Che!

Thinkin' out loud

Would we be as incensed and outraged if Robertson had a history of donations to the NDP or another party? How do we know that Robertson is actually pleased with the performance of the Liberals? Maybe Robertson is one of the hundreds of thousands of BC'ers who are upset about the HST?

My point being, a contribution does not prove a permanent bias. As a Special Prosecutor, Robertson has to deny any personal impulses or loyalties/oppositions he may have to do his job right. I don't find it hard to believe that he can do both.

Good luck finding perfect rationale beings with absolutely no bias and strict independence. Sometimes we just got to do the best we can.

Just as outraged

NO LAWYER SHOULD BE GIVEN THE JOB OF SPECIAL PROSECUTOR WHO HAS EVER DONATED TO ANY POLITICAL PARTY....federal OR provincial.
Nor should special prosecutors be chosen from firms, such as Van Fasken Martineau, who have a long tradition of being political insiders.

Justice must not just be done; it must be seen to be done. Openness and accountability are not just WORDS.
That's the whole point of appointing a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation and potential charging of someone whose job involves political overtones.

If any lawyer wants to play political footsie, it should, by definition, rule them out for that kind of job.

Period.